


Eyayah Be Aaray O'r Kaysh Runi

by Paragosm



Series: Aay'han [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Afterlife visiting, Angst, Canonical Character Death, Clones being clones, Clones getting adopted tag, Echo is smart and loves his brother, Faked Crash Landings, Force Entities, Gen, I'm sorry I watched the last episodes of clone wars this isn't fix-it anymore, I'm sorry Tech, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Mild Hurt/Comfort, No beta we die like mne, Plans Going Horribly Right, The Bad Batch is helpful, mild sexual harassment, original cultures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:41:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23983963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paragosm/pseuds/Paragosm
Summary: Eyayah Be Aaray O'r Kaysh Runi - mando'a for "Echo of pain in his soul."Echo finds out about Fives death, and has his heart shredded apart. Something is off to him, however, and he enlists the help of his new squad, the mutated Clone Force 99, to find out exactly what had happened to his brother and Fives' closest vod, Tup.
Series: Aay'han [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1731409
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	1. Discovery

He went back to the video to see what had been recorded and was shocked at what he saw. His hands trembled. Tech had made the new prosthetic better then the old one the Techno Union had attached to his unconscious body, and better then any prosthetic an ordinary trooper would have ever gotten, but at the moment he cursed it”s realistic movements as they betrayed his emotions to his new squad while he watched and read over the mission reports Rex had given him, pain and guilt in his eyes, when he asked where Fives was: and once he looked around at everyone who went silent and avoided eye contact with him, what had happened to him. 

Rex had given him records of all the declassified things, and some of the classified ones at his silent pleading. Echo was beginning to regret this decision, wishing that for his previous self the simple sentence “he was shot” was enough, but at the same time, he desperately needed to know every detail to have that final closure. Hunter stood silently in the background, watching, listening, while Crosshair twirled the vibroblade he held in his hand. Echo had paused the video feed once Rex ran into the warehouse, knowing from it being the last tape given to him it was to be the end of his ner’vod, or the last Rex heard or saw of him. He suspected the former, given the timeline of events. He never met this Tup Fives cared so much for, but it hadn’t taken him long to go through what was known of him. Rex had a video of his Fiv’ika letting the young vod, barely eight at the time of recording, sleep on his shoulder after the first mission they went on, guarding him from the nightmares and terrors they all knew intimately, especially after the deaths of close brothers, as he learned had happened in a flash for Fives kih’vod’ika, within minutes of that first landing. He learned their names to recite, for Fives’ memory. He said under his breath once before shaking his head and playing the video again, “Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum, Ty, Chaos, Change, Music, Escape, Tup.” 

He pressed play. The bodycam feed buffered for only half a tick. He sensed Hunter and Crosshair’s attention turn to the recording. The world slowed down, Echo suddenly only aware of the events playing out in front of him as Rex followed General Skywalker into a warehouse, side by side on high alert. Fives’ voice, rambling, feverish,  _ drugged _ some small part of his mind whispered, came out of the shadows, “General Skywalker, thank you. Thank you for trusting me. Have you come without troops?” General Skywalker’s voice sounds out clearly from behind Rex. “We have.” “Thank you. Please put down your weapons.” “I don’t think so Fives.” Two parts of Echo’s brain warred. The logical side said it made sense, there’s no way to tell if a cornered kath hound will bite after all, but that deep side of him said that they should’ve trusted him, his ner’vod- “Please sir, please. I'm unarmed.” He heard his brother’s voice say, wavering. He clenched his teeth. He hadn’t heard him this scared since the anti-combat stress sims. His tells were subtle but there. 

The sound of a lightsaber being sheathed rang through the speakers, and he watched the cam feed as Rex set his pistols down slowly and deliberately on a storage crate, saying calmly “Alright, I'm putting my pistols down” then backing away, hands likely up by the pauldron positions. Anakin steps in front of Rex, the two walking through the warehouse, looking for his brother. “What are we here for Fives?” Asks the General, firmly but a tinge of concern underlies it all. Rex circles around Skywalker’s back to be beside him again as the very faintly hopeful reply of “I need your help” emerges from a corner, closer now. 

“I know you do. We know you're not well. It's been rough for you these past couple days.” “I'm not crazy!” His voice breaks “Please, please--just, just--hear what I have to say.” Stuttering? Fives hadn’t stuttered like that since the first night on the Resolute, murmuring remembrance and stuttering and shaking through the names of their lost vode. The two seem to notice him. “We're here to help you Fives, just come with us. Let us take you back to the temple.” They move closer. A ray shield appears suddenly, and the General punches the bounds of it, saying “No!” forcefully. Then Echo gets his first glimpse of his brother and swallows. He looks gaunt, he’s disoriented, hair shaved away, wearing stolen shiny armor as he stumbles and begs “I just need you to listen to me, please!” 

“I'm not really sure we have any other choice!” The General snarks, crossing his arms and leaning back. Classic Skywalker, Echo thought. “I was framed, because I know the truth! The truth about a plot, a massive deception.” His brother gestures wildly, out of control. This isn’t him. Drugged. He was drugged. Rex pushes in front and his voice comes from above. “By who?” “Well, there's a sinister plot in the works against the Jedi! I have proof of it, I can prove that everything I know is true beyond the shadow of a doubt!” Echo listens, waiting for this to go wrong, surely it will soon, surely. “Show me the evidence.” Skywalker demands. Fives grips his head, then points frantically, saying “The evidence is, in here, it's--it's in here, it's in all of us, every clone!” “What is it?” Rex questions, concern lining his face. Fives leans against a crate, head resting on his arm, shooting up near the end of the sentence with pained eyes “Organic chips, built into our genetic code to make us do whatever someone wants, even kill the Jedi! It's all in here!” Echo stares. No, he can’t have gone mad. That makes too much sense for a madman’s ravings, especially when he begins to recall all the data on slave chips that briefly ran through his brain back when he was hooked to that freezer tube. 

Skywalker’s body language..he doesn’t believe a word he’s saying. Can’t they tell he’s drugged? Can’t they? The General says as calmly as possible “Let's just get you some help first, then we can review everything. You'll be okay, Fives. We'll sort this out.” Wrong thing to say. Fives was under the same instructors. He was an ARC. He can read body language. Which was why he wasn’t shocked when he screeched “AH, YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME!!!!!” but his heart still dropped to his stomach. Rex tried to calm him, saying evenly “Fives, we are listening to you. We only want to help.” Fives stepped closer to the ray shield, still gesturing like a drunk man. “How do I know you're not tricking me? How do I know it won't be a trap!? The chancellor tried to kill me! I promise you that!” He ranted, very slightly pacing. “The Chancellor?” Skywalker said rather disbelievingly. 

“He's in on it! I don't know to what extent, but I know he orchestrated much of this. He told me in the medical bay!” Fives says, stepping as close as possible to the ray shield. “He told you, when you tried to assassinate him!? You have gone too far, Fives, the Chancellor is incapable of what you claim.””He is! I swear to you General, you have no idea--” Skywalker steps very slightly back, bracing himself for something, what, Echo didn’t know. Echo noticed the squad of Coruscant Guards running into the warehouse, Commander Fox at their head, as he ordered loudly “Stand down soldier! Stand down! Get on your knees!” 

Echo recognizes Fives panic, he’s seen it before, the switch between a trained soldier to a scared child almost instant as you looked into his eyes, and if you knew him well, the drugging only made it worse. “No, no, no! Stay back!” He cries, eyes widening in terror, not used to being hunted by his own brothers, and between the stress, the drugs, and whatever he was ranting about, something had finally snapped, and he looked at Rex’s pistols laid on the crates, eying them. Echo’s heart jumped from his stomach to his throat: what was he about to witness? “Don't do it soldier, don't do it!” Commander Fox said, Echo still was not sure what this was all leading up to. “GET AWAY FROM ME!!!!” Fives screamed, and just before Echo could calm his nerves from seeing what he believed he had been about to see, he grabbed one of the pistols and aimed at the oncoming squad of red armored troopers. 

He heard Rex’s voice through the recording, crying out “Fives, no!!” But it came a second too late and Echo nearly vomited as a shot went through the shiny armor his brother wore. His Fiv’ika...his vod...Fives dropped the pistol, and stared down at the cauterized hole through his body, straight through a lung. He stumbled. He grabbed at his chest and fell onto the ground. “Fives! Fives! Fives…” Rex’s desperate cry of Echo’s brother’s, no, both their brother’s name seemed to circle Echo’s head on repeat. Skywalker’s cry to shut off the ray shield and the subsequent electric sparking of a blaster bolt hitting wires barely heard by Echo as he stares in shock at the recording. Rex immediately drops to Fives’ side, grabbing him tightly in his arms, calling for a medic over his shoulder. Echo stares straight into this final recording of his brother’s eyes as he coughs. “Rex..””Fives.””This, it's...bigger than any of us. Than anything I could have imagined. I never meant to....I only wanted to do my duty.” HIs coughing got louder as he struggled harder to breath. 

“Brother, Fives. Stay with me, Fives. Fives!” Rex begs, voice heavy with emotion .He’s lost so much, too much, the Captain can’t bear to lose another one, another brother. He holds Fives close to him, to hear his whispered dying words. “The mission....the nightmares...they're...finally...over....” With that, Fives’ went limp, eyes rolling back. Rex continued to beg, plead, with Fives or the Force are whatever was shabla out there. “Fives, no, Fives, come on, Fives. Don't go, stay with me, stay with me, Fives. Fives! Don't go. No. Oh, no.” His voice got thicker and more full of tears as he went on and on. 

He laid him down gently on the ground. Now, Echo had his closure. The tape ended. Hunter sat next to him, his presence there saying everything that needed to be said without words. Then he tried to stand, and the shock went to grief. There had always been a dull pain since he got out, he’s known deep down that Fives was dead, but now...the world seemed to spin around him and a sharp, throbbing pain took hold of him, the empty hole in his chest where a bond used to be becoming painfully obvious, so much so that all he wanted to do was vomit and hope the pain would come out with it. His entire body told him to stop what he was doing, stop and find relief from this hellish feeling. For a moment he thought about everything he might lose if he gave in to the pain and everything that would come of it.The stabbing pains reminded him of the tubes and cords he’d had in him. After a minute he gritted his teeth and let out a short grunt. He was determined to keep going, to simply swallow the pain and deal with it later. 

This failed. He barely managed to get to the room he had been given before collapsing on the floor, a strangled scream tearing from his throat. He punches the ground hard with his prosthetic fist, over and over, until the floor is dented and a finger joint breaks. His throat is hoarse, and he backs himself against a wall, then he looks under the door, still not used to the non-automatic opening, and sees a shadow slink by and stop. Crosshair, he thinks, having learned to identify the distinct prowl. He feels comforted by knowing someone is there, someone he trusts even despite the elitist attitude he outwardly displayed. 

“Tech heard the shattering and needs your hand. Hunter has  _ asked _ you to stop putting dents in the ship.” Crosshair says flatly, the word asked intoned the same way as ordered. “Echo?” Echo couldn’t speak, he could barely breathe, suffocating, help, help, drowning- the door was unlocked with a few clicks and Crosshair was at his side. “Breathe, before I have to report why you’re dead.” A few minutes later, Echo can breathe again and says hoarsely “Thanks.” “Don’t mention it. Seriously, don’t. I only did because I don’t like paperwork. Especially death reports.” “Sure you did, vod.” Echo rolls his eyes. Crosshair could feel emotion, contrary to popular belief, and if his actual reason was he didn’t want to deal with paperwork he would’ve hauled him to Tech and let him deal with him.

He also wouldn’t still be sitting by him, hand lightly resting on the rifle he carried everywhere that was currently on the floor, being quiet as he examined the dent in the floor. “Who was ARC Trooper Fives to you?” He asks coolly. “My brother. My batcher. We were the only two who made it out of our first mission alive.” Echo’s hugging his knees, feeling so gaunt, he doesn’t belong in this skin, it’s too small, much too small- “I’m sorry he went out like that.” Crosshair stands up and walks out, leaving Echo’s jaw dropped. Did  _ Crosshair  _ just show sympathy? 

When he finally managed to get up and leave his quarters, holding the broken prosthetic to himself, the rest of the squad was assembled in the main area. He stopped in his tracks when they all turned to stare at him. “Uh, hi.” Tech appears at his side almost instantly, causing him to jump. “You need a bell.” “I do not need a bell of any kind at the moment. I do however need your hand, since you decided to have a rather enthusiastic sparring match with the deck of Imperishable.” 

Echo sighs and extends his arm, and Tech hunches over it with a set of tools which he uses to quickly repair the deconnected wires. “Try that.” Echo nods and clenches his fist, then spreads all the fingers out. “Good as new.” “Good, I still have my prized 98.482% success rate.” Wrecker jumps up and slaps him across the back, Echo nearly going flying but has learned to brace himself….brace himself and has installed stronger magnets in his boots at Tech’s suggestion. “Sorry about your brother, no one deserves to go out like ‘at, tiny.” He says roughly. 

Echo sighs and smiles sadly. “Thank you, Wrecker. Although I’m still stunned….stunned that nobody noticed he was-” “Drugged.” cut in Tech, Crosshair, and Hunter in a chorus. “How?” 

“We all came to the same conclusion at the same time.” Tech explained. “No, not speaking in unison, I mean the conclusion itself.” “His pupils were blown out of proportion, he was disoriented, his movements were exaggerated, I could almost smell the sweat gland overload through the recording, and no ARC would ever behave in such a way.” Hunter intoned, throwing a dagger in the air. “In fact, given the recently healed head wound and what he was going on about, I’d put my money on medically drugged.” Echo blinked. “You could see all that in a bodycam recording?” “I thought you’d already figured out that we had abilities that shouldn’t be questioned.” Crosshair said with an eye roll, looking down the scope of his rifle. “He has a point.” Tech says, glancing up from a datapad. 

“I know he does and the point is taken.” Echo says, staring down at his lap, thinking, something disturbing him. Hunter inhales deeply and locks eyes with him. “Speak your mind.” “You can smell emotions now?” “Always could.” “Right. Well…..he tried to assassinate the Chancellor and he went on and on about chips.” He reaches up and prods his head where the healed wound on his brother was. “I remember something about slave chips passing through the information lines. They weren't whatever he was talking about, but it has me thinking that...maybe he wasn’t a raving lunatic.”   
  
“We’re listening.” Hunter says, steepling his fingers as his ears twitch. “We are?” Wreckers says, jolted back into reality. “Yes, we are, you big lug.” Crosshair spits, punching him in the shoulder. “Ey, what’d you do that for?!” “Oh, you didn’t even feel it-” “Hush.” Hunter orders, and they go silent. “What if he wasn’t completely crazy? The official reports say it was a virus, but I doubt that. For one, the virus it supposedly was only infects certain animals, and cannot pass to humans even if it’s infected flesh is ingested.” “And if he was a loose case or infected?” “Then we’ll have caused all manner of chaos, destruction, and have concrete proof of either or both of those things, but as said; I highly doubt it was either.” Wrecker’s face lights up at chaos and destruction, Echo notices. “Yes, maybe there will be explosions.” Crosshair sighs.’”Why did you say that?” “Because that’s all I have to say to get him on board. Tech?”

“We might be committing high treason if we investigate the Chancellor too deeply. There are likely to be extremely difficult security programs to wrestle with. The chances of success are low. Sounds like a challenge, count me in.” Tech says, downloading a copy of all the information. “Crosshair?” “Can’t let you idiots go kill yourself without a proper sniper to take care of you, plus I like the high chances of death.” He says monotonously. “That’s three out of four. Hunter?” Hunter sighs and looks around them. “I am going to make it clear I think it’s a phenomenally bad idea. But I can’t say my instincts aren’t up about this whole thing, and not in a good way, which is why we’ll detour from floating in space indefinitely to play detective.” “Thanks.” “Don’t mention it Echo. You’re coming up with the plan.” 

  
  


Echo stares off into the distance, then pulls up a map of Coruscant’s upper levels, controlling everything with a plugged in finger. “The reports say he was taken to Kamino first with Tup, a friend of Fives. Tup died of the supposed virus and complications from Fives performing a surgery on him in his ‘madness’, Fives led everyone on a roundabout chase, and was apprehended in an area of Kaminoan cloning vats. He was then taken to the Grand Republic Medical Center, which he escaped into the streets of Coruscant from, leading up to his warrant for arrest and subsequent death. The first logical step seems to be to-” “Check the security footage of the Kaminoan room and the Medical Center.” Tech says, peering up from the datapad. “I’m klicks ahead of you.”

“Yeah, what he said.” “And how” said Hunter with a raised eyebrow “Do you suggest we get in those places?” “That’s where a contact of mine comes in. Kix, the CMO of the 501st, told me that he knew things about Fives’, but he didn’t want to speak to me over Republic encrypted coms.” Echo looks straight at Tech. “Oh, so you want me to code an uncrackable, untraceable signal to speak to  _ that  _ reg?” “At least it’s not Jesse.” “You have a point.” He gripes, then hands him a comlink. “That fast?” “I have tons preloaded.” “Ah, I see. Well, thanks. The point is, I know there’s a medic seminar sort of deal coming up. If I can convince Kix to go, he may be able to be just another face in the crowd enough to take a look at the footage from there. For Kamino….how likely are they to believe one of you went a little too far off the rails?” “Extremely.” Crosshair says, staring at the map. 

“Good. You can figure out who the bait is, but I’ll need Tech to hack the mainframe to try and find any information about any sort of chips, and recordings of the rooms and places Fives was at.” “I am constantly reminded why you were used as a weaponized information stream.” Crosshair mutters. “Now, do you have an off button?” Hunter growls and bares his teeth at him, and the warning is suitably taken as he snorts and looks away. 

*************************************

“Any questions?” Echo asks after finishing explaining the details of his plan. The other four look at each other, and give negative confirmations. “It’s settled then. We move out at o’five hundred.” He leaves the room, going back to his own, avoiding the dent in the floor with a wide circle. He sees the box of things Rex gave him, personal effects of Fives, or what little vod had in the way of them, probably. He hesitated before opening it, but finally pushed the button that unsealed it. Fives’ gauntlets, several holodiscs, photos, and some random things he’d picked up lay inside. Echo touches the armor gently, reverently, as he remembers these being painted for the first time. He touches the string of prayer beads a twi’lek priest had given Cody after a fierce battle nearby her monastery. 

Cody had told everyone she had said that to ensure the passing of the dead into the afterlife she gave it to him, as the leader and brother of those under him, for it had to be possessed by a friend or relative of the deceased to guide the lost souls home. It had slowly made its way around the 212th and 501st since. He knew it had been given to Rex last, and now him, because every time it was passed on the vod put their own spin on it. He himself had added a white bead painted with a tiny blue handprint for Charger, Popper, Vern, and Si’li, and Rex did the same with the beads painted with jaig eyes. Originally it had been only twenty beads long, but it now had well over three hundred, with lots of other things, like strings of smoothed armor chips, mixed in. 

He set it back down, then picked up one of the holodiscs, labeled “Well If You’re Watching This I Karked Up For The Last Time.” He pushed play. A recording of Fives, dressed in full ARC armor, throwing a ball into the air, lounged on his bunk, started projecting.  _ “Hard to know where to start your own death message, but I’ll get there.”  _ He said, seemingly to an off-screen presence. This was confirmed when a quiet snort came from another bunk along with low, unintelligible speech.  _ “Hey, c’mon, Tup, I’m not that bad at this. Be lucky I’m letting you stick around in here for the night!” _ Echo smiled a little. : _ ”Now, where was I? Oh yeah, the point of this recording. Well, as anybody who’s up to date on the latest GAR shenanigans of all sorts probably knows, I’m Fives. CT-5555, the ARC who stood up to Krell, the one who smuggles contraband extensively - hey, don’t look at me like that, half of it is osik for the medics! - and the reckless suicide mission taker but not really because unlike Skywalker I understand risks.”  _ Echo raises an eyebrow. “You do?” he murmurs to himself, heart sinking as he knows he’ll never get a response. 

_ “I’m recording this in the very likely event of my death, as between Umbara and my entire batch perishing I’ve realized life is only temporary and we need to be prepared for its end and my end is rapidly approaching as a gear in the cog of war. Yes, Tup, I know I’m an excellent scholar, thank you.”  _ Fives stopped throwing the ball into the air and sat up, now looking directly into the recording device.  _ “I would, in the event of my death, want all my few worldly possessions to be given to Tup - no, you have no choice, kih’vod’ika, take my haar’chak things - and if he’s gone for whatever reason, I’ll yell at him in the afterlife for being dumb and you can give whoever you think needs whatever osik I have the most, Rex.”  _ Echo sighs, remembering his own recording like this. It was a lot more precise, almost clinical, almost the only thing besides his request to be cremated if possible being the very simple request for the Captain to please, for the love of the force, keep his or other reliable eyes on his Fiv’ika. 

_ “Well, I love all you shabuirs. I’ll miss ya, just make sure to say my name during remembrance, eh? What? Oh, ok, you won’t have to remember, Tup says he’ll eviscerate anyone who forgets. While that’s a strong threat, it’s really hard to take someone so young and small and who currently has thick curly hair framing his face seriously.”  _ Tup walked into the view of the camera and tackled Fives, yelling for him to take it back, wrestling him to the floor, Fives laughing and clearly letting him win. Echo smiled, a little sadly, as the recording crashed to a stop when a misplaced kick knocked over the device and it fell to the floor. 

He puts the disc back into the box, and pulls the next one out. It’s labeled “Why Is My Kih’Vod’Ika So Dumb Sometimes”, Echo sighs at Fives’ habit of capitalizing every word. There was a reason Echo always wrote the mission reports. It turned out to be a compilation of things Tup had done, recordings taken from many, many vode’s helmets, recorded challenges and dares, and so on. One of him luring Krell to a dangerous animal. Another of him eating a spicy fruit whole and nearly dying, him having an allergic reaction to some nuts a villager gave him, several clips of him falling out of and into things, the more public, lighthearted ones usually accompanied by his violently flushing face and the uproarious laughs of at least three vod. 

Another one, by Tup he assumed by the better handwriting and the nickname for Fives he heard used during the previous compilation, cabur’vod’ika, on the label, which read “Cabur’vod’ika being dumb a lot.” This one included a lot of backtalk, rude gestures behind the backs of important people, Fives sticking a long yellow fruit down his throat at least seven times and choking, a few brushes with death, falling out of fourteen different trees in the muddy climate of a single unidentified planet, losing his armor after a long mission, him exhausted to the point of falling asleep in all sorts of places, accidentally swapping out paint with hair dye, and somebody chasing him. Echo glared every time he did something life threatening but had to laugh at the repeated instances of general idiocy. 

Finally he made his way through all the discs, and started looking through the pictures, smiling at the snapshots in time. Tup and Fives petting the Krill-9 units, Fives at a card night, Fives holding a litter of loth-cat kittens that he clearly found in the burnt, bombed out building behind him, him letting some village kids play with his helmet, and so many others. He picks up the gauntlets and slips them on his arms, hugging himself. They’re so much bigger on his rail thin frame, he honestly never quite realized the bulk even the average young line trooper had until he didn’t have it anymore, none of them anything more than skin and muscle thanks to the intensive exercise and heavily restricted, purely nutritional diets. 

After a few minutes of sitting in the silence, he starts drifting off, and finally falls asleep. 


	2. Crash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated tags, and the story decided to take itself in a different direction after I watched the clone wars finale, so yeah, this isn't fix-it anymore....yet. *dundundun*

They were on Kamino. And after about three seconds of Crosshair’s horrendous acting, they were being chased around the hallways. “Hurry up with that hacking, Tech!” Echo yelled into his wrist com, grateful at least for the stolen shiny armor he had, big and clunky as it was on his gaunt frame. “I am going as quickly as I can, but may I say, this is an excellent distraction you’ve engineered.” “It wasn’t meant to go like this, this is Crosshair’s fault!” Crosshair’s voice rang out from the speakers. “And you were only the most wonderful actor yourself, Corporal Protocol That Doesn’t Exist Anymore.” “I didn’t know, and acting was Fives’ thing!” “Well, he’s dead.” “I know!” He ends the call and continues running, breath ragged. Fierfek, the armor is so heavy, there’s not enough room to run forever, his legs are getting tired, _ movemovemove _ ! 

Eventually he jumps into the vents to evade his pursuers, and to rest. He makes his way through them, and brings up Tech again. “Is the hacking going well?” “Affirmative. I’ve bypassed the subsidiary retina scanning protocols and am onto cracking the foremost overriding system for the fingertip scanners, or whatever those infuriating demented cloners have to scan on their hands.” “And how long will that take?” “I just finished it, it was very simple code if you understand the Ancient Kaminoan Silver Cipher coding language and it’s family.” “And now what? Does it want you to answer three riddles?” Echo asks sarcastically, running his fingers over a hatch with traces of being welded shut. “No, don’t be preposterous, Echo, that was the last system. I’m now downloading any and all records of CT-5555 and CT-5385 they have in their database.” Tech sounds somewhat confused and annoyed at the inquiry of whether there were riddles, and Echo shakes his head. “Good job, Tech.” “Thank you.” “Meet you back at the ship once you’ve got those on your datapad.” “Understood, then on to the medical center.” Tech ends the connection there, and Echo sits down, resting for a few more seconds before beginning the chase again. 

He tears his way through the halls, crashing to a halt as Master Shaak Ti appears. She helps him up from where he slipped, and brushes off the front of his chestplate. “There, trooper, no harm done. I apologize for getting in the way, as I’m certain someone going somewhere so quickly has an important task.” “No, ma’am, I’m uh, just in a hurry to get back to the barracks in case of a lockdown ma’am.” He says hurriedly, knowing he’s being followed. Master Ti’s facial expression is thoughtful as she tries to remember where she’s heard that specific accented inflection of tone before. “Ah, I see, trooper. Well, carry on, I’d hate for you to be kept away from your brothers much longer.” “Thank you, ma’am.” He runs past, careful to adjust his course to be headed near the barracks before taking a shortcut through yet another ventilation shaft and shedding the armor in it, kicking out the vent cover that led into the hidden “hangar bay”, actually an unmonitored, abandoned cloning test area under Tipoca City, they’d left the Imperishable in. 

He runs to the ship, and hears a vent on the opposite end of the room be kicked out, and Crosshair jumps out, falling to the floor as gracefully as any Jedi. Tech jumps out of one in the ceiling, shaking himself off. “You should be lucky I considered the instance of there being waterlogged tunnels on the way down here, as I grabbed waterproof cases for the data, and now you may thank me for keeping these intact.” Crosshair only glared, and Echo sighed and said flatly “Thank you, Tech.” Echo looked around. “Crosshair, where’s Hunter? I thought he was with you.” “Hunter smelled something off in one of the rooms we passed, and being the instinct driven creature he is, he’s now on his way with whatever he found.” The scarred man intoned coolly. 

“And Wrecker?” Tech runs up the ship ramp, saying “Wrecker should be here in Trill minus five, four, three, two, one-” Just as his voice is cut off by his entrance into the ship, Wrecker crashes through the broken doors, sending a small wave of debris filled water towards everyone else. Crosshair jumps on top of the ship, and Echo grabs onto one of the landing ramps support struts to launch himself onto it. “Sorry ‘bout the mess, tiny, Cross, Tech.” “Don’t call me Cross, you oversized loose cannon.” Crosshair snaps. “Just get on board, please.” Echo orders, rubbing his face, reaching to help Crosshair down only to get his hand kicked away. He shrugs and goes in, soon followed by the one he’d just offered to help, and he was followed by Wrecker, who drops a bag on the ground. 

“What is that? More evidence?” Tech queries, pushing his goggles further up his nose from where they’d fallen down during his frantic run back. “Nah, it’s a sack of seafood.” The three stared first at the bag, then Wrecker, then each other. “Why did you take seafood?” Crosshair asks, crossing his arms. “I was in the mess and thought why not.” Echo sighs. Hunter spins around in the front seat. “No harm done.” “Oh hey Hunter, didn’t see you there.” Echo says, getting used to Clone Force 99 and it’s members appearing without warning. “Hey Echo. So, I found where they keep biological study specimens.” “Did you find any evidence?” “No, just a lot of diseased limbs.” “Interesting, but why are you mentioning this?” Echo asks. “Because I found the biological identification wrist implant of Tup. It’s not evidence, but I thought a souvenir couldn’t hurt.” Echo blinks once, then twice, then gets in the copilot's seat, while Tech hops into the pilot’s. 

“I have made the elective decision to not ask questions anymore.” Echo sighs, shaking his head. “Most likely a smart one.” Crosshair snarks, as Hunter reaches into the seafood bag, cracks open the small, round mollusks he picks out and swallows the flesh raw. Echo ignores him, and helps Tech get Imperishable off the ground and ready to punch past the shield keeping the ocean out that they already punched through once. 

Nea Nur, the head security officer of Tipoca City,and her troops are waiting at the surface. “Does anyone have any ideas?” Echo asks, urgently pressing buttons to get out of a tractor beam that locks onto them. “You’ll get the same answer as Skywalker: I  _ do  _ have an idea.” Tech says, and starts programming the navicomputer. “Which is?” Hunter asks, now nonchalantly chewing a raw crustacean the size of his hand after ripping off it’s head. Tech hovers his finger over the activation button for the hyperdrive. “They can’t catch us in hyperspace.” “Tech, are you-” Echo’s comment is cut off as he’s thrown backwards, and they make it out of the atmosphere, getting the tractor beam off of them and escaping effectively. A few minutes pass silently except for Hunter’s tearing and gnawing bites of assorted raw shellfish. 

Tech is the first to speak up. “We’re now on the Republic’s wanted list for theft, breaking and entering restricted areas, accessing restricted files, and desertion.” “And who's surprised?” Wreckers snorts, adding “I say bring it on.” Hunter finishes eating, and throws some of the crustaceans at the others. “Get some actual food in your stomachs before we get to the planet city, supplement it with rations if you need to. You especially Echo, you need to bulk up, no matter what happened to you, you’re still a reg biologically.” Echo huffs, and starts eating. 

  
  


**********************************

  
  


The rest of the way to Coruscant turns out to be quiet as after everyone eats they sleep in turns, getting a few hours of rest. Echo tries contacting Kix several times on his watchs, but to no avail, and he didn’t dare try to alert Jesse, despite knowing that if anyone knows where the medic is it’ll be his ner’vod. They’ll need another plan, which is what he spends the time he has in the silence to outline. When they arrive, it’s Crosshair’s turn on watch, and to wake everyone he plays a high-pitched screeching across the speakers, which nearly has him flat on his back within minutes as Hunter punches him in the face, but it’s all in good humor as the two wrestle for a few minutes then back off. They come out of hyperspace and sneak through the security easily, setting down on a low level platform after descending through one of the large portals down that doubled as ventilation shafts. “Now, to get disguises.” Echo says after explaining the new plan to the four mutated squad members, trying to evaluate who to send to nick some clothes from whatever shops there were nearby. “Disguises? What’ll we be needin’ ‘em for?” Wrecker asks, crossing his arms. Echo raises an eyebrow. “Do you want to be walking around in distinctive armor and uncovered faces while we’re wanted criminals and committing high treason?” Wrecker shakes his head. “Exactly.” Tech says, then gets up. “I’ll fetch the outfits.” 

He walks smoothly down the ramp after fashioning a makeshift cloak to cover his armor. While everyone prepares, he steals and barters for the disguises, making his way back after a couple of hours, and throws a few assorted pieces of clothing to each member. Crosshair catches a pair of sturdy boots that smelled of alcohol strong enough to be fuel and matching gloves, a pair of stained long pants, a belt with a skull on it, a top with cut out segments, and a cloak to cover it all, gathered around the shoulders with a hood. He glares at it all, but puts it on with only the silent, implied complaints his body language gave. 

Wrecker puts on his own pair of boots, gloves, pants, and the torn, thick, long flight jacket with a large hood, while Hunter and Echo did the same. Tech has already dressed lightning quick, his face covered with a battered helmet. “Are we ready to go now?” He asks, arms crossed as his foot taps the floor. “What’s got you so on edge?” Hunter asks, smelling him and snarling as a heavy scent of anger and desire blows into his nostrils. Tech shrugs. “Some arkanian tried to get a piece of me, so I knocked them into next week, took their boots and ran, plus I’d like to just get this all over with. I’m getting bored.” Hunter growls more. “I’ll be fine, put your hackles down.” Tech says, shaking his head. Hunter backs down, but still eyes him, protective over his men. Echo puts the string of beads in a pouch, nods at the others, and starts heading out, Hunter tailing the others to keep them in line then moving ahead to scout the area out, running around like an excited anooba, categorizing new scents and watching for security. 

They made their way further up to the surface using Tech’s winding directions, finally emerging into the moonlight. Tech, who had removed the helmet at a security droid’s pointed look, gestured, and led them to a taxi stand, flipping a credit towards one of the drivers. “Where are you and your friends headed, pudding?” Hunter growled at the human, who raised her hands and rolled her eyes, muttering something about just trying to be nice. Tech put a hand in front of Hunter and gave him a pointed look, and he backed down reluctantly. “The Grand Republic Medical Center.” She looks them over. “What do you want there, puddin’?” “We have job interviews as cleaning staff. And I’ll throw you over the side to fall to your death after breaking your back in four places with a single hand if you do not desist in calling me condescending pet names.” Tech says coolly, settling down in a back seat while the others do the same. 

She looks back. “Cleaning crew, eh? Nice to meet you, I’m Drat Eva.” “Just drive.” “Yikes, alright, alright, I’m going sweet stuff.” She says, getting the speeder going while Hunter bares his teeth and Tech eyes his hands, seemingly trying to ignore the names and the sensation of being an object Echo is certain he feels, remembering the stories of a certain brother of his back in the day, and Ahsoka’s recounts of events that had happened to her and other padawans and jedi. Echo puts a hand on his, and looks him in the eye, squeezing the hand gently, mouthing  _ you aren’t an object, vod’ika, don’t let her get to you _ , which got a soft squeeze, a pained smile, and a mouthed reply of  _ thank you  _ back from him.

She kept trying to talk, continuing to use the pet names and talking to him like he was an idiot, but finally Tech had had enough, punched her in the face and threw her into the back, slipping into the driver's seat. Wrecker cheered while Crosshair cracked his knuckles. “She was getting on my nerves.” He says, as Tech slips a device into his ear, taking deep breaths after his breathing rapidly increased a few moments before he knocked out the taxi driver who’s been harassing him. Echo gently put a hand on Tech’s shoulder. “Are you alright?” Wrecker cut in before he could answer. “He’ll be fine, the chakaar probably just reminded him too much of Trak Ce-” “Shut. Up. Right. Now. Wrecker.” Tech says in a desperate hiss, breathing deeply the stops between his words, spinning around to look him in the eye. The message is received, although Echo makes a mental note to ask one of the squad members about that later. 

“We’re here.” Tech says curtly after a few minutes of tense silence,and throws it into a rapid descent roughly, all the others looking at each other, concerned, but saying nothing. Once they all get out, Hunter puts the woman back in the driver's seat and programs it to head back to the taxi station, while all the others begin preparing to break into the tall spire that was the hospital for all those who were rich enough to afford it’s care. This is where Fives was taken, where he supposedly tried to assassinate the Chancellor. Evidence must be here. 

  
  


Echo puts a hand on Tech’s shoulder again, the look that passed between the two saying everything, and Tech nodded, lifting his hand and twisting it, saying that he was good enough to function effectively. Good enough, Echo thought, then hoisted the bag of security dearming devices he had been given, and jumped into a ventilation shaft, pulling Tech up and having his hand slapped away by Crosshair when the sniper pushed up and past him. Wrecker and Hunter were going to sit this one out, or rather, keep watch, mainly because they couldn’t fit into most of the external ventilation system hatches. 

They crawled around for almost an hour, finally kicking out the vent for the head administrator’s office, but an explosion shook the building right as they fell on the ground. Echo swore, and started a call with Hunter. “What’s going on out there?” “Oh, the Separatists decided to attack the planet, it’s all fine though, the hospital’s been as evacuated as a hospital can be, which works out for you three. Just hurry up.” He cuts the coms, and Echo curses again, then he peers over Tech’s shoulder. “How’s that going?” “The cracking? Extremely quickly, only a retinal scan and simple password. Sorting through the millions upon millions of medical records here? Much slower.” Crosshair is staring out the window, rifle over his shoulder and trained on some target, most likely a nearby droid ship, then he makes a comment. “Then get going.” He fires off a round, and something is heard exploding. “That was a vulture droid.” “Thanks for informing us of this, Crosshair, now please don’t make any more comments for now.” Echo asks, tone stressed, digging through the drawers. 

Tech pointed at a set of files that he quickly copied and downloaded the copies of, tucking the records he obtained into a pocket, holding his hand out for the holodiscs that Echo was holding. Echo handed them over, then gestured at Crosshair, who fired off another round then jumped into the vent, using the still smoking rifle to lift the other two up. Several explosions rocked the building before they could get back to the platform they needed to get off of, one of them leaving Tech dangling from thin electric wires that he expertly used to swing himself around and flip off of to get back up when part of the floor fell out from under him. 

Once they got back to the platform, they were greeted with a red sky, smoke and damaged buildings and fighting and explosions and bolts of light dancing across the sky as far as the eye could see. “Well” Echo says “I did tell Wrecker there might be explosions.” “That you did. How do you plan to get us out of here?” Hunter asks flatly, crossing his arms. Wrecker, staying far away from the edges, supplied “We could just jump.” “To where?” Crosshair hisses, picking droids out of the sky. “Right ‘ere.” He points to a squadron of tanks being put down in the streets below. “We don’t have jetpacks.” “So?” He runs towards the edge, closes his eyes before he can look down, and jumps, landing on an airlifted tank’s roof, and gestures, yelling into the coms “Come on!” “I can’t believe we’re doing this.” Crosshair snarks. “It’s not as bad as some of Skywalker’s plans.” Echo says, running and jumping, flying through the sky before rolling at the impact, his impact soon followed with the three  _ thuds  _ of the others following suit. 

  
  
  


“And what now?” “Could you stop asking that question?” Echo looks around. “I’ll figure something out, just give me a minute!” He starts blasting at the droids in the sky around them, spinning on his heels. After a few minutes, he points at a troop carrier painted with the medic symbol. “There, jump on once it gets close.” The others nod then brace themselves, eyes all judging gaps and weight, but the ship was only close enough to just  _ jump  _ for half a second and there was no time to  _ think  _ as they crashed into a small, tightly packed space. 

Four exhausted, wounded medics raised their pistols and pointed them at the group. Echo raises his hands, signing in Galactic Basic Sign Language that they were civilians caught in the fighting. The pistols were lowered, and the chief medical officer gestured towards a small area. “We’ll put you down where we can.” The Clone Force all nodded and settled down, waiting, keeping their weapons hidden. 

They hovered over a landing platform on the lower levels, where they’d set up a relatively safe triage station. The officer nodded. “You’ll have to get back from here.” “Thanks.” Hunter said, herding the others out, smelling the way back from there and shoving them into the ship, punching the lock on the entrance after the ramp closes. “Alright, now, how in haran are we gonna continue our investigation now?” he asks. Tech waves a disc in the air, still somewhat shaky from his earlier brush with death. “If this has what it seemed to have and there’s a reason it’s so heavily encrypted, we may very well not need to continue.” 

Echo nods, then digs in the back, bringing out a bottle of mandalorian tihaar that had ended up in the ship at some point, what point, nobody knew, and takes a swig before passing it to Tech, who raises a hand and pushes it towards Crosshair. “I don’t drink anymore, not after…” He drags out his sentence until it fades into the air and he doubles his attention onto the datapad in his hands. Echo shrugs, a concerned look in his eyes, handing it to Crosshair. “Whatever you say, Tech.” Crosshair chugs it like water, then throws it to Hunter after twisting the cap back on, who takes a few sips, then hands it off to Wrecker, who finishes it off, coughing. “Whoa, that stuff is strong, ain’t it?” “Yes, not as strong as some things though.” Echo says, chuckling. “What’s so funny?” Wrecker asks, still coughing a little. 

“Ah, just remembering the stuff a brother of mine used to make. Everyone said Popper must have brewed it using jet fuel. Little did they know he actually did, it wasn’t like it wasn’t called engine moonshine for a reason.” He says, smiling a little sadly as he eyes the string of beads he now holds in his prosthetic hand. Tech settles by Echo where he’s ended up on the small bench in the Imperishable, and puts his knee close to his, comforting him with the proximity and warmth of his body. 

“We should look at those files.” Crosshair says coolly, lighting a death stick. Hunter glares. “Thought you said you didn’t have any more of those things.” “Note the past tense.” Tech looks up. “Sorry to interrupt, except I’m not, I’d love to show you those files but it will take awhile to decrypt them, as in, I’ve never seen this coding language before and neither have any of my programs so we’re having to do this the old fashioned way.” 

“Of course you are.” Crosshair huffs flatly, smoking in a corner. “Would you like to try and figure this out?” Tech snaps, more on edge then Echo has ever seen him. “No? Then shut the haran up and let me work.” Crosshair just shrugs, and looks the opposite direction, putting out the death stick, sitting down, and starts cleaning his rifle. Hunter crosses his arms, then walks into his quarters, Wrecker mutters something about power naps and takes off to do the same. Eventually Crosshair seems to get tired enough to retire himself, leaving a furiously typing Tech and a quietly observing Echo alone in the cabin. 

Echo looks over at him. “Would it be within bounds to ask why you’re so tense?” He asks softly. “No, it would not be.” Tech retorts, hand shaking for half a second before looking at him. “Even when it’s interfering with the mission to have everyone's tempers running this high?” “It’s not interfering if everyone keeps their smart comments to themselves. Besides me, of course, as making intelligent comments is one of my main purposes.” Echo looked at him more intently. “I won’t pry, but you’ve got to calm down eventually, so I’ll be here for you.” Tech relaxes a little, and sighs, rubbing his face. “Thank you. I apologize for my behavior, I merely have parts of my past I’d rather not reveal before I’m ready, and I prefer others not talking about them around me.” Echo nods. “We all have bits like that, Te’ika, it’s no problem.” Tech narrows his eyes. “What did you just call me?” “Te’ika. I can refrain from using it if you wish.” Tech shakes his head, smiling very faintly. “No, I like that. But if you please, there’s no better time to sleep with your current circadian rhythm from fifteen minutes from now to o’six hundred this morning, and I’ll be working all night, so rest is optimal for you.” 

Echo snorts, but heads off to bed after clasping Tech’s shoulder in his hand, squeezing it, and putting on some caf for him, knowing he’d need it. Once his door is closed, he pulls the string of beads back out of it’s pouch and places them in the box Rex had given him. He looked up to the ceiling, imagining it was the sky of one of the distant worlds Fives and he had gone to for a mission, remembering the soft pinks and oranges of the firmament dyed by the planet’s permanently setting sun. There had been endless fields of low light flowers, the dye they made some of the highest quality and rarest, finest colors in the galaxy. It was a security detail, as the Empress of the world was considering joining the Republic, and her planet’s wealth would’ve been a huge asset to the war, so her safety was taken seriously. She ended up refusing to join the Republic when she learned more about the many horrific battles with civilians caught in between and the existence of the army’s bulk in general, saying that her moral code and the code of her people would not suffer to support the governmental system that allowed it’s existence, as her people were against cloning intelligent life as a concept. As far as Echo knew, Empress Suhay Umaru Qori and the people of Cozamalotl were still neutral. 

He slipped into the memories as he drifted off. 

  
  


**********************************************

  
  


_ Echo looks around. He does a double take at his ARC armor that fits his frame, unused to the sensation of being the right size again. A flash tears by him, then Fives runs by, laughing, then stops in his tracks. “Echo?” He says, slowly turning around. “.....Fives?” Echo whispers, eyes wide. Fives runs at him as fast as possible and tackles him to the ground, sobbing. “I couldn’t find you, I got here and I found the others and I couldn’t find you, where were you?” He asks, hugging his brother tightly after hauling him up. Echo blinks. “The Techno Union.” He says slowly. Fives lets out a choked cry. “Ech’ika, ner’vod, do you mean...you were alive?” Echo nods. Fives’ mouth hands open as a tremble passes through his frame. “How...how did you die? You must have escaped or been rescued, you look fine.” Echo narrows his eyes. “I’m..not dead, Fives.” “Oh. Just visiting then.” Fives gestured at Echo. “Could you let me see what you look like?” Echo closes his eyes, focusing on what he saw in reflections. _

_ Fives’ grip tightened after seeing his thin frame and the remnants of the machines he’s been hooked to. “What” he growls out “The haran did they  _ **_do_ ** _ to you?” “Hooked me to a statis tube and used my brain as an intelligence weapon against the Republic.” Echo answers bluntly. Fives looks him over. “When were you found?” “Rex had a hunch and found me about three standard weeks ago while on a mission to retrieve the Seperatist’s new secret weapon. I have a new squad now, they’re called Clone Force 99, or the Bad Batch. Entitled, elitist, all of them have genetic mutations that were found to be desirable, and once you get under their attitudes towards ‘regs’ you’ll never find better men.” Fives grinned. “A squad of mutations called 99, eh? I’ll tell him, he’ll be proud of them.” “Tell him?” “Uh, yeah? Would you like to spell it out for you? This is the aurek-forn-trill-esk-resh-lesh-isk-forn-esk, afterlife, y’know, the place you go when you kick the helmet.” Echo stares. “Then how am I here?” Fives shrugs. “Sometimes brothers can visit in their sleep, but it’s pretty rare.”  _

_ Somebody runs up, then tackles Fives from behind, pressing his cheek against Fives’. “Cabur’vod’ika, the point of tag is to chase me!” Tup says laughingly, then he notices Echo and smiles sadly. “You didn’t have a good time, did you, vod? Welcome, I’m Tup.” Fives pushes Tup off of him with a snort. “He’s not marched off, just visiting, kih’vod’ika. This is Echo.” “Echo? Like, your vod?” “Yep.” “Oh, then hi! Enjoy your- Fives, should I go get Domino and all them?” He asks eagerly, brushing away his hair when it falls into his face, far longer than Echo had ever seen in the recordings, no longer bound by regulations. Fives facepalms. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that, yes, go get them.” Tup nods and bounds off, out of sight on the extensive meadows within seconds.  _

_ Fives guides Echo to a log nearby, and they both sit down. “So, what have you been up to?” “Not much, besides being in a deep freezer and investigating your death.” “Why didn’t you say so? I could tell you all about it.” Fives rubs his chest, then sticks a finger through the hole. “This doesn’t hurt anymore, but the wounds still hurt some of our brothers, so be careful.” Echo stares. “We can’t even escape suffering in the afterlife?” _

  
  


_ “It depends on how quickly you accept being dead and how much you open up to your brothers, mostly. I didn’t hurt for long, because I wasn’t killed instantly so I kinda knew what was going on, and Tup and all our brothers were here to help me get back up on my feet. The wounds can be covered, but won’t ever leave, though.” A brother runs up, slight burn scarring over his entire body. “Echo!” “Hevy?” Echo doesn’t get an answer to his question as he gets knocked to the ground. “What happened to you?! You’re shabla tiny, are you eating?” “Seperatist freezer tube and yes, Hunter is making sure of that.” “Who’s Hunter?” “My new serg-” He’s cut off as another brother limps up, flinching with every step, body broken and riddled with smoking holes. “Hey, Echo.” He says numbly, smiling only the slightest bit. “Hey, Droidbait.” Echo says softly, looking him over.  _

_ Cutup arrives not a second later, ghostly pale blood dripping down his form as massive gashes can be seen. He grins, hugging Echo tightly. “Look at that, Domino is all back together.” Fives says, joining the pile on top of Echo, who wheezes. “I love you all too…..but I'm not dead….yet...oxygen…” Cutup, Hevy, and Fives all got off him, Hevy hauling him up into a sitting position. “Sorry, ner’vod.” Cutup says. “We’re just really excited to see you, we’ve missed having a voice of reason.” “Thankfully you can’t die when you’re already dead.” Droidbait mutters.  _

_ “Yeah, thankfully.” Another voice said. It was Tup, joined by Popper, and two unknown vod. Popper had died in an accidental explosion in the engine bay, long suspected to have been caused by his brewing, but Echo knew Popper better than that. “Or else Fiv’ika would have been dead a dozen times over by now.” “Aww, c’mon, Tup’ika, those cliffs were perfect for diving exercises, it’s not like it can hurt us!” Fives whines, pouting. “This is why you and Hardcase get along.” “I know.”  _

_ Echo smiles at Popper. “Been a long time, eh, osik’ika?” “Like haran it’s been, shabuir.” He said with a chuckle, half of his body consumed with flame but no seeable injuries. He registered Echo’s confused look and explained. “I was incinerated instantly, giving me no body to have marks on, so it manifested in a different way.” Echo nods. Another vod with the pale phantom flames licking around his back waves. “Hey, I’m Hardcase, nice to meet you, ooh purrgils!” He runs off after large creatures floating in the atmosphere. Tup twirls a finger around his head. “He doesn’t have it all together, he’s hyperactive and gets distracted easily. He’ll be back when he realizes he can’t get them, or he’ll focus so hard on getting them he won’t be back for a week.” “Good thing you don’t need food or sleep when you’re dead either.” Droidbait mutters.  _

_ “And who’s that?” Echo asks, nodding his head at the other one, holes through his throat, an eye, and his head, miraculously none of them have damaged the intricate arrow head tattoo over his face. “That’s Dogma. He can’t talk until he learns that we want to help him and lets us.” Fives sighs, shaking his head. “What happened to him?” “Firing squad.” Tup says sadly, putting a hand on Dogma’s shoulder. Dogma looks away, hands twitching from nerves. Echo nods, and he keeps talking with the others for hours, about his squad, about what’s happened, and listened to their stories, until a familiar voice broke through the seemingly hazy veil.  _

_ Domino Squadron and all the others look up sadly, and hug or otherwise show their affection to Echo one by one, Echo grasping at the last straws of the dream desperately as he wakes up.  _

*********************************

  
  


Tech is done with Echo, who’s been wandering the Imperishable in his sleep and mumbling. He doesn’t know if he knows he sleepwalks or not, but he does, and whether he knows or not it doesn’t change how annoying it is to have somebody knock caf out of your hands while muttering something about purrgils, whatever those were. Once Tech has finished cleaning up the mess, and he throws the ragged cloth into a corner, knowing Crosshair with his meticulous cleaning habits will pick it up as soon as he spots it, he walks in front of Echo. 

“Hey, Corporal Echo. Echo, wake up. You’ve caused enough trouble, wake up, before I have to deal with another one of your unconscious mistakes.” He shakes him carefully. Echo jerks awake, and after nearly stumbling, blinks and looks around, yawning as he wakes himself up. “This..is not my bunk.” “You sleepwalk. You have ever since you got on board the fine modified ship Imperishable.” “But...I’ve never woken up anywhere but my-” “We always put you back before you wake up. You don’t tend to go many places or move much usually.” Tech says, pushing his goggles up and making more caf, hands slightly jittery. Echo shakes his head to clear some of the drowsiness away. “How’s the decrypting going?” “Very well, I’ve cracked the code and now I just have to run a program that’ll unscramble it into something besides jumbled nonsense.” Echo smiles and stretches, grunting as muscles pull. “That’s good news.” “Indeed it is.” Tech seems a lot more at ease now, which is much better then it was last night. 

“In fact, I’m activating the program...now.” He presses a button and turns his attention back to the brewing caf, which he drinks straight from the pot after dumping some glucose cubes in. Crosshair walks in, immediately spots the caf covered cloth, and picks it up, taking it into the back. The sound of water is heard as a shower is turned on, and after a few minutes he returns with a clean rag, placing it next to the caf machine after folding it. Hunter saunters in not long after Crosshair pulls out ration bars. He throws one at Tech. “Eat. We need you since Echo can only plug in, not decrypt.” “Thanks.” Tech breaks it in half and chews it quickly, wetting his throat afterwards with a massive gulp of caf, then does the same with the other half. 

Echo has three thrown at him. “Eat. Get more weight on you so you don’t keep getting sent flying.” “You can’t expect me to eat all of this.” “I do. And I’m watching you.” Echo and Crosshair have a staredown with each other for a few minutes before Echo gives in and starts chewing the first ration bar. “These are tasteless. It’s like eating a soft bone.” Crosshair doesn’t reply, and hands off the rest of them in his hand to Hunter, who shakes his head, and leaves the ship.

Wrecker, who had entered silently, looks down at the others, taking the ration bars Hunter didn’t take. “Where'd you think he’s goin’?” “Food.” Crosshair replies, crossing his arms and popping ration cubes into his mouth. “Don’t we ‘ave food?” “He wanted different food.” “Why aren’t we allowed to do ‘at?” “Because you can’t get your own food.” Echo adds onto Crosshair’s last sentence. “Plus, do you really want to eat the dirty rodent he’s probably going to bring back, and eat raw, Wrecker?” 

Wrecker shrugs. “Better than nothin’.” “I guess I can’t disagree.” He chuckles. “I remember Commander Tano offering me, Rex, Wolffe and Fives these little things she caught. They were pretty good cooked.” “And raw?” Tech asked, holding up a decrypted datapad. “Wolffle thought they were fine but Rex vomited.” “I hope someone recorded that.” Echo smiles, slightly sadly. “Fives did.” His left eye twitched, and he had a feeling that he should remember something, but had already forgotten what. Hunter returned right then with a lizard that he’d washed and skinned, popping the pieces that had been thrown over a fire for a few minutes into his mouth. “Speaking of Fives, I’ve finished the coding on these files.” Tech says, setting all the datapads and discs on the small table. 

“Then let’s see it.” Hunter says, eyes fixed on the disc Tech plays at his command. It was a recording of the hospital’s three highest ranking administrators. Doctor Ziryethi Yerola, a Savarian female, Doctor Edex Vall, a Sephi male, and Head Doctor Li Ri, a Selonian female, all stood in a circle around a table, clothed in crisp, clean medical uniforms. They were speaking to a cloaked figure. “Lord Sidious, the clone is unarmed, and he’s been drugged. You cannot mean to go through with chasing down an incapitated, injured man! He needs medical treatment, not more stress!” Doctor Yerola said to the figure, pointing at it. She’s lifted into the air by some invisible force and starts choking, hands prying at unseeable fingers around her throat. The other doctors lower their gaze. Ziryethi is dropped to the ground just as she starts to go limp and the icy tone of this Sidious pierces their hearts. “You will learn to obey me if you value your life, Doctor. The clone has removed his inhibitor chip, he must be detained and.. _ dealt with _ accordingly.” “Yes, Lord Sidious.” The two doctors said, bowing at the waist. “Yes, Lord Sidious.” Snarls Doctor Yerola, her tone getting her thrown against a wall as the holocall ends. 

They go through recording upon recording, they try to make sense of it all, hours of thinking and staring at the collected evidence. Echo sighs. “Alright, let’s go over everything one more time. Tup had a malfunctioning inhibitor chip, and Fives removed his. They both died. Palpatine said it was a virus and had a vaccine against it created and injected into the entire clone army, but the virus only infects certain animals. Sidious has the doctors on his payroll and the footage of the room Fives tried to assassinate the Chancellor in is mysteriously warped beyond comprehension.” Tech nodded along at each point, saying “And as I’ve been saying this whole time, I think Palpatine and Sidious must be working together. It’s highly unlikely that they wouldn’t be colluding in some way, given how they both seem to have a common goal or interest, which is the inhibitor chips in us clones.” 

Wrecker, who’d been sitting out the whole time, spoke up. “What if Palpatine an’ Sidious are the same person?” All the others turned to stare at him. “What? Was ‘at a bad idea?” Tech begins furiously typing and exclaims “No, Wrecker, it was genius! Of course, now it all makes sense!” “It does?” Crosshair says coolly, chewing on a tiny wooden stake. “Yes, it does.” “I hate to be the party crasher, but what are we going to do with this information?” “Take it to the Jedi?” Wrecker suggests. “When we’re wanted criminals?” Echo sighs. “No, we’ll need more proof before we show up accusing the Chancellor of being a mastermind who wants to destroy the Jedi.” “We have the proof right ‘ere, don’t we?” “Not exactly. This is definitely proof, but not enough.” After a few minutes, they agree to begin the hunt in a few days, giving them enough time to remove the chips, to gather more supplies, deal with some situations, and such. 

  
  


***********************************

The opportunity to gather more information never came. Order 66 was given, and suddenly everything around them was thrown into chaos. It was all they could do to get off Coruscant before it was too late and lockdown went into effect. The Jedi were dead, their brothers were not themselves, and nothing could be done. 

Echo stared off into the distance. “So he died for nothing.” Tech put a hand on Echo’s shoulder. “As long as we’re alive and fighting, there’s always hope.” Echo nods tiredly and turns his attention back to the starmap of the outer rim in front of him. He pulls up the information on one specific planet using his plugged in finger. “Ruovttus.” He read out loud. “A small farming planet. No native sentient species, but there is a hybridized species that came here a long time ago. Only valuable to the nearby system.” “Sounds ideal.” Hunter says, twirling a vibroblade. “Then Ruovttus it is.” Tech says, and begins programming the navicomputer. 

Echo can’t help but try to shake the feelings of roiling pain and grief across the galaxy, so strong it doesn’t take the Force to feel it. 

As they land on the planet, nothing but small trading towns, snow covered fields in the north and seas of blue-green grain, he has flashes. He remembers planets that looked this pristine and pure when they first landed on them before. He also remembers that all those planets they left with scorched earth, destroyed fields, burned homes, and civilians mourning. 

They arrived in the main town, barely a thousand people lived there, mostly the hybrid species that had been created here. Now, to make themselves welcome guests. Tech landed the ship in a way that looked like crashing after purposefully entering the atmosphere in a grossly wrong but minimally damaging way for the ship. They quickly grabbed the worn clothing they had and hid the armor in lockers as they raced back to their seats, feigning a return to consciousness just as a rescue team breaks through the side of the Imperishable. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pssssssstttt, did I forget to mention how much I love comments? ;)


	3. Adoption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you happy now, Lumi XD

They rested in an old, unused house someone had graciously offered to them in the tight knit community of Oarbbesája, the rarely visited people of the planet, the Golmmas, or as they’d been quick to correct them to, the Mánát Násttiin Eret, which Tech said was Golmmic for Children from the Stars. Some of them spoke Basic, and the ones who didn’t were delighted, if also amused, to hear Tech speak the language decently, but still tripping over some of the words. 

Their host walks into the main room of the traditional housing. Áidná Kauppi hands them each a bowl of varra muorji and arachbou jerky, along with a mug of something that smelled sweet with a slight chemically undertone. “Here, un’ni vieljjas, food. It’s very hearty, it will fill you up and put some meat on your bones.” She says to Echo and Tech as she gives them theirs, and chuckles as she hands off the bowl for Wrecker to him. “I do not believe you shall need more weight, but eat heartily all the same, garus vieljja.” 

“Giitu, thank you, Áidná.” Tech said, dipping his head as the dark skinned woman walks out, her long legs carrying her out quickly, her montrals thumping against her back and her shawl’s delicate strings of fabric twirling as she spins and sings on the way back to her home in the middle of these thick woods. 

Echo shoots a look at Tech. “Didn’t you say un’ni means little?” “I did.” “Did you tell her how old we are?” Hunter asks with a sigh. Tech shrugs. “She asked, and it’s not like it was classified information, if there even is such a thing about our creation anymore after the Republic’s fall.” 

Crosshair throws a vibroblade dangerously close to Tech’s head, who doesn't bat an eye. “If she calls me anything besides my name, I’ll gut her and you both.“ Echo stepped in. “Maybe don’t hurt anyone, Crosshair. These people are currently our best chance to keep safe, and maybe even settle down for the rest of our accelerated lives.” 

“Settle down? Why would anybody wanna do ‘at?” Wrecker asks around a mouthful of food. Echo shakes his head. “I considered it, one time, when I was still young and hopeful. On the Rishi Outpost, there wasn’t much to do, so me and my brothers would pose each other a lot of what-if questions as a way to pass the time.”

“Like what?” Hunter asked, ripping into the jerky with sharpened canines. Echo thought. “A lot of it related to what we wanted to do after the war was said and done. Fives wanted to keep being a soldier. I thought being a biomedical engineer or a civil engineer would’ve been an interesting, logical job. Hevy always said something involving destruction, heavy machines and explosions.” Echo looked off into the distance and shook his head with a sigh. “How fate is cruel. Cutup typically quietly said something about becoming a victim advocate. And Droidbait switched between a horticulturist and things involving economics a lot.” 

Tech looked up. “I’m technically a military engineer. I have a degree from an accelerated course I took while training from age seven to nine on a special Coruscant facility. Of course, as military  _ property  _ as opposed to a military enlistee or draftee, I don’t exactly have a salary for this, and I try to block a lot of the memories from then….” He trails off, then shakes his head to clear his thoughts. “But I still helped develop some emergency structures and weapons in my offtime, along with designing and building most of our speciality equipment.” 

Echo blinked. “How’d you get a degree?” “My above average intelligence was considered and the Kaminoans and military councils decided it was to be at it’s best if it was developed through higher education. I’m also the youngest of this squad, as far as I know.” “You are?” “Yes. Hunter and Crosshair are nearly thirteen, Wrecker is two months younger than them, as far as I’m aware you’re around twelve, and I turned eleven roughly a month ago. It can be hard to keep track, as I’m certain you know, given standard planetary rotations and calendars can differ greatly, aside from our ages not exactly mattering to the Republic as a whole.” Tech says, taking out a datapad and focusing intently on it, walking into a corner after finishing half his food and pushing the rest towards Wrecker and Hunter. “Now if you excuse me, I’m going to make some plans, look through the records our host has allowed us access to, then I shall be heading off to bed.” 

“Good night, Te’ika.” Echo says, looking over his shoulder to watch him, then turning to face the others. Hunter looks at the bowl in Echo’s hands. “You’re going to eat that?” “I don’t think I can, Hunter. My stomach significantly shrunk during my time in the deep freezer.” “Then can you hand it over, we hardly want to waste our kind host’s efforts.” Hunter held out his hand for the bowl, and Echo handed it over. “Those berries are sour enough to turn my stomach.” “They probably were a bit harsh for you.”  Hunter hands the bowl to Wrecker after seeing the begging expression on his face. “Thanks, boss.” He says, before digging in. “You’re welcome, Wrecker.” Echo stared at his hands, twisting them, cracking the knuckles, tapping his fingers on the low table, the floor, and anything within reach. Hunter raised an eyebrow. “Are you having fun?” “I wouldn’t say that I am, I’m just trying to make my mind stop spiraling.” 

Crosshair looked up and said coolly as he threw a dagger with a curved blade at him. “You could sharpen this for me, it would be more productive then becoming a living noise machine.” Echo catches it, and catches the whetstone that follows it soon after. He begins sharpening it. “Where did you get this?” “Took it off a freedom fighter we’d been helping when she was killed. She didn’t want it taken by the enemy.” He said, pulling the vibroblade he’d thrown at Tech’s head earlier out of the woodwork and staring at it, tracing the pattern in the handle with a finger. “Ah, I see.” 

Wrecker put down the bowl he’d been eating from and yawned, stretching his arms over his head and leaving for a seperate corner, collapsing on the floor and beginning to snore loudly. Crosshair snorted. “It seems this day has been tiring for him.” Hunter says, as Echo puts the dagger and whetstone down on the table. “It seems it has. Crosshair, your dagger is sharp enough to cut through bones like butter.” Crosshair grabs and sheaths it, going into a corner of his own, tracing over the woven patterns on the dirt and blood stained fabric, fingers twisting the tassels that hang off it around themselves, going into a slightly trancelike state as he leaned against the beam that supported the roof there. 

Echo watched, then made eye contact with Hunter. “What’s gotten into him?” Hunter sighs, shaking his head. “He got pretty attached to the woman that dagger belonged to. She was mute, but the two of them connected instantly, I guess it’s because they knew how to communicate without words.” Echo cocked his head. “What do you mean by attached?” “Romantically involved, is what I mean. We were assisting on the front of the planet’s anti-Seperatist rebellion off and on for five months, and she was one of the strategist's, and one of the very few trained soldiers there were.” 

Echo remembered brothers who had similar stories. A pretty pink twi’lek bartender named Eyal’gigo, nicknamed Gigi, who had been kind to Popper, and his waxing poetic about her soft blue eyes, delicate hands, clinking laugh and long lekku bound back with the same airy white fabric that covered her whole form. Charger and the commanding Korunnai woman Thizie Nulve who was training as a volunteer military engineer, her golden brown eyes and braided, beaded hair the most beautiful things in the world to him, his broken heart when she was killed in a core explosion a month after their relationship was official. Rex, drunk off his shebs one night, whispering about a deserter named Cut Lawquane, his wife Suu, their children, and how he knew about them. 

Echo asks quietly, “What was her name?” “She was a Codru-Ji named Cormei. I never saw what he saw, but they do say love is blind.” Echo thinks. “Cormei. I’m certain she was a good woman and soldier.” “She was.” Hunter spun around, nostrils flaring as he went to eye out the window curiously. He soon was looking into the eight eyes of a cervid, which followed him unblinkingly as he went outside to get a better look, Echo following him, standing on the doorstep, and watching him, ready to help if something went wrong. 

Hunter kept his shoulders hunched, looking down, making himself smaller, as he walked closer slowly and cautiously, one or two of the more shy six-legged creatures skittering away from him. He got to one of them, and stood by its side. It limped slightly, and once he was turned towards Echo, he could see a woven band with a bell around its neck with the same patterns Áidná had embroidered on her shawl. Its large antlers and horns spread wide and high, making for an awe-inspiring creature.

Hunter held his hands out with the fingers pressed together. “Hey there. Who are you?” The cervid stomped the ground, favoring it’s injured leg. Then it reared, leg no longer injured and grew three sizes bigger, it’s deep black eyes going blood red. It galloped around Hunter, getting closer and closer as it tightened it’s circle, kicking and bucking at the air, the world around them seeming to swirl in a mass of fiery tones and shadows. 

It halted in front of him, spinning to face him, snorting. An echoing deep feminine voice boomed out from the woods. It spoke in the planet’s local language, but when it seemed to realize that they couldn’t understand, it switched to Galactic Basic. “I am Seavdnjat, I am the bringer of darkness, of pain, of moonlight, of death, of life, and of dreams.” It echoed, the trees bending as the colors continuing to swirl. 

Another one of the creatures slowly traipsed up next to Seavdnjat. “And I am Čuovga, bringer of light, of pain, of burns, of sunlight, of death, of life, of growth, and of healing.” It said, it’s voice a higher pitched masculine one seeming to come from the air and water, it’s eyes glowing softly with a color that Echo associated with bacta and medbays. 

Hunter stared. “Who are you?  _ What  _ are you?” The beings blinked in unison then spoke in turns. “We are the dark.” “And we are the light.” “We are the day.” “We are the night.” “We are death.” “We are life.” “We are all that is around you.” “We are all that is in you.” Hunter looked at them more intently. “Some weird entities, alright. What do you want with me and my men?” “To feed!” Seavdnjat said, rearing and stamping the ground. “There is so much darkness within you and them, it shall be a feast, a feast to last me several of your lifetimes.” 

Hunter stepped back. “You aren’t eating anyone.” “You misunderstand.” Čuovga says, shaking its head. “We feed on the energies around and within you. Seavdnjat feeds upon the dark, and I the light.” “You’d think keeping the light in someone would be a good idea.” “Not if it is in excess. Those that are too full of light tend to take unnecessary risks, and their egos inflate.” Hunter continues backing towards the door, Echo getting on alert as he starts growling. 

Seavdnjat rears once more, then approaches the door slowly. Hunter starts snapping at the air warningly, while Echo tenses, ready to try and aid the situation. The dark entity seems to loom more as it gets closer. Hunter runs at the threat and nips at its heels. It still continues, barely glancing at him, and that’s where Hunter snaps and lunges for the throat, overdeveloped cheek and jaw muscles becoming prominent as he latches on, ripping at flesh as he thrashes his head from side to side. 

Echo ran to him as Seavdnjat tried to violently shake him off, and pulled Hunter off, dragging him to and into the doorway, trying to get the door closed once he had pulled him all the way through, but Hunter wanted to tear the entity to shreds and was difficult to hold back. 

A shot came from over their shoulders and Seavdnjat screeched in pain, shaking its head as an eye smoked briefly before growing back, but despite being healed it turned tail and ran, and Crosshair shut the door. “Sergeant, I’m safe, look.” He intones, holding still. Echo lets go of him, and he investigates the home. He sniffs over Tech then Wrecker, once satisfied everyone is safe he settles on the floor near Wrecker and lowers his head, yawning. 

“Thanks for blasting that  _ thing _ , whatever it was, Cross’ika.” The name slips out of Echo’s mouth before he can think about it. He realizes his mistake almost instantly as Crosshair stiffens then very slowly turns around. 

“What” he says, grip tightening on the rifle as he goes pale “Did you just call me?” Echo swallows, recognizing the sniper’s rare signs of distress. “Cross’ika.” “Don’t do it again.” He snaps, crowding into his space and glaring at him. “I’m sorry, Crosshair, it just kinda slipped out of my mouth before I could think about it.” “Think about it next time.” He intones monotonously, then goes back to his corner and starts touching the dagger that had belonged to Cormei again. 

Echo sighs, and goes to curl up hesitantly with Tech, all the other corners taken except for the one uncomfortably close to the window. Tech wakes up enough to yawn and sleepily blink at Echo. “What do you need…?” “I’m going to sleep here, I’m not sleeping near that window.” Tech nods. “Understood…” “Thanks.” “Don’t...mention…” He falls over and goes back to sleep, Echo remembering this is the first time he’s slept in two days as he pulls a pelt blanket over him and his little brother.

************************************

Tech woke Echo up with his quiet whimpers and twitching, and Echo flips to face him to see he’s dreaming, his face contorted with a discomfited expression and legs twitching. He watched his lips moving, recalling his ARC training and reading his lips. _ ‘Y-yes Professor-’ ‘I know-’ ‘Please s-stop-’ ‘I’m sorry ma’am-’  _ Echo’s eyes became laden with a sad wave of emotion, as he realized why he was the only one who never seemed to get nightmares.  _ “Even though everyone always avoids talking about my heart breaking cries for my batchers, Hunter’s growls and sharp noises of pain and fear, Wrecker’s quiet sobs, and Crosshair’s defensive hisses, sudden jumps out of his bunk, and the clanks as he grabs his weapons anyway.”  _ He thinks. They never noticed Tech. He made no noise. His lip also twitched when he thought about what could’ve happened to the younger version of his Te’ika to have these night terrors.

He shook him gently. “Tech, Te’ika, come on, wake up. Vod, wake up. You’re having a nightmare, get up.” Tech’s eyes opened, and after a few seconds of his breathing evening, he coughs lightly and looks Echo in the eye, whispering. “I’m sorry I woke you up.” Echo whispers back. “Don’t be sorry. Are you alright?” “I’m fine. Don’t worry.” Tech murmurs, then rolls onto his other side. “Please, I’ve only gotten four hours of sleep. The ideal amount for a biologically twenty-two year old human male is seven to nine hours. You should obtain a similar amount of sleep as well.” He rattles off under his breath. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” “There is nothing to be talked about. Good night.” He snaps quietly, shoving the pelt off of him, grabbing a different woven blanket and curling up before falling back asleep. Echo sighs, eying him with a concerned expression, before going back to sleep himself.

************************************

_ Echo is back. He takes a deep breath, suddenly remembering everything from the night almost a week ago, and facepalms. “I forgot, of course I forgot.” “Forgot what?” Echo spins on his heel and punches Fives in the face. “Quit giving me heart attacks, ner’vod!” Fives cackles, floating up into the air. “Don’t worry, visitors can’t die in the afterlife. Some of the others experimented on Waxer before he was killed.”  _

_ Echo stared up at him. “They experimented how exactly?” “Well, less an experiment and more they shoved him off cliffs, stabbed him, shot him, and did increasingly reckless osik once they realized he literally couldn’t be killed.”  _

_ Hardcase appeared out of nowhere, holding a big jar, seemingly not realizing Echo was there as he floated up in front of Fives and shoved the jar into his face. “Look, ori’vod, I made a terrar...kriff, how do you say it, kark, terrarium! I made you a terrarium! It took a week but I made it!” Fives grinned and took it from him. “Thanks, Hard’ika, it looks great. We were wondering where you were.” Hardcase floated back down. “I was fine- Oh hi Echo!” He drops in front of him.  _

_ "Hi, Hardcase.” “Nice to see you. Do you want a cool rock? I’ll get you a cool rock!” He runs off before Echo can reply. He feels Fives bump against his back. “Look at what my sweet little vod’ika made for me, ner’vod.” He holds out the jar. It has clouds and a realistic flowery meadow that Echo recognizes as the one he and Fives had stood in and watched the sunset from on Cozamalotl. A tiny purrgil floats around with a feeder that looks like it had hyperspace fuel in it attached to the side of the jar.  _

_ “He did a good job on it.” Echo says after examining it. “He really did.” Fives agrees, putting it to the side. Hardcase reappears and hands a few large rocks to Echo. “I got you three cool rocks. This one is orange, this one is black, and this one is blue.” Echo is practically juggling them to hold them all, but smiles at him. “Thanks, Hardcase.” “You’re welcome, I’m heading back to town now.” Fives waves goodbye as he starts whistling and walking off.  _

_ Echo looks over at Fives. “Town?” “Yeah, Echo, did you think we all lived in the cosmic space of the void or something here?” Fives snorts. Echo punches his shoulder lightly. “No, I just didn’t expect a literal town. Kinda figured you didn’t need that sort of thing when you’re dead.” “Oh, you don’t, but it definitely makes it more comfortable.” Fives says nonchalantly, then strolls onto a dirt road.  _

_ “Where are you going?” Echo calls after him, trotting after him. “I’m going to Last Stop.” “Last Stop?” “The town where most of the newly dead and those who keep an eye on them end up. A lot of the 501st and 212th stay there permanently, honestly. There’s also Next Gen, where the youngest ones end up, Malevolent’s Maw, which is the biggest one and mainly made up of the vode killed at Abregado and other massive massacres, Rookie, ironically named because it’s where all the oldest Alphas and Nulls tend to land themselves in, and Loved, which a lot of mutations, deserters, and such go to.” Echo blinks.  _

_ “You have a whole culture here, don’t you?” “Eh, it’s basically just vode culture with the added bits that come with all of us being a little, tiny bit, slightly dead.” Echo rolls his eyes. “Still have your sass?” “Oh haran yeah I do. Jesse kept swearing at the ghost that he swore was haunting the 501st, it was hilarious.” Echo stares, then punches him. “You can be a ghost?!” “Sort of? I can’t touch anyone, or anything really or have any sort of physical speech. I can just watch and stare. Menacingly, according to some shinies, but comfortingly to the others.” “Why didn’t you do that instead of waiting around the afterlife?” “If you mean recently, oh I’m sorry I was dealing with a massive influx of scared, confused, horrified vode that was more important than an energy draining social call. Before that, I thought you were dead but trapped somewhere or something.”  _

_ “Trapped?” Echo says, narrowing his eyes. “Yeah, vode can get trapped places. Tup needed me to drag him out of the Void, Dogma tried to throw himself into it, I’ve been told Ponds was lost and wandering because our brothers who die because of being beheaded or otherwise have severe spinal cord, brain or eye damage get lost a lot around here when they first arrive.” Fives closed his eyes, turning his head up to the constantly shining sun. Echo sighed and walked alongside him. “We figured out the chips, but we couldn’t stop it.” “I figured, on both counts.” Fives reached out to hold Echo’s hand after taking the rocks and making them float behind them.  _

_ They walked in silence, everything that needed to be said was said through the subtle movements and careful looks they gave each other. At the entrance into the town, Echo halted, overwhelmed with emotions suddenly. Fives watched with an understanding expression, seeming to know what was going on. “Take your time, Ech’ika. It can be pretty intense the first time you get near a lot of us.”  _

_ Echo looked up at him with gritted teeth as a dulled pain that felt like razor blades shredding him from head to foot shot through him. “You knew this would happen?” “It differs in intensity a lot. Some vode barely feel it, some have been on the ground screaming a mile away.” “Thanks for the warning, I really appreciate it Fiv’ika.” He snaps sarcastically, then after a few minutes of deep breathing exercises, the pain starts to go away, then disappears. Fives waits until it’s clear that the pain has largely faded before grinning, albeit a little sadly. “You’re welcome, ner’vod.”  _

_ Echo hears something and curses in Huttese under his breath. Fives cocks his head like an anooba hearing something new. “What’s wrong, Echo?” “That’s Tech. I recognize his voice.” Fives listened and sighs. “He’s trying to wake you up, isn’t he?” “Most likely.” Fives kisses Echo’s forehead then presses his own forehead to Echo’s. “Well, then I guess I’ll see you next time, Fiv’ika.” “Don’t die.” Fives says warningly, then turns into the town after hugging his brother and Echo’s form begins to fade as he wakes up from his visit to the afterlife. _

_ ******************************** _

Echo groans as Tech finally manages to wake him up. At least this time there was no sleepwalking and knocked over caf. “Good morning, or as our hosts say, buorre iđit.” “Tech...you have five seconds to run.” He groans tiredly, stretching out his limbs. 

Tech took this seriously and bolted, and after Echo finished his stretching, he grinned and leapt to his feet, running after him. He chased him in a tight, winding loop around the room, Wrecker and Crosshair watching and exchanging a few muttered sentences. 

Finally Echo got an idea and instead of continuing the chase indefinitely with his rapidly tiring legs, he hurdled over the table and tackled Tech to the floor just as he crossed his path. Both of them had the air knocked out of their lungs, and once they got their breath back, they started laughing as Echo assisted Tech in getting up. 

“I should have seen that coming, Corporal.” Tech says, brushing himself off. Echo punches him lightly in the shoulder. “Come on now, don’t call me that, vod’ika.” “You’re never going to let me be now that you know I’m the youngest, are you?” “Nope!” He chirped with a massive grin. Tech gives a sigh. “I should’ve known. Regs and their humor.” “If you think I’m bad once I come out of my shell, it’s probably a really good thing you never met Fives. Much less me and Fives. Even less so, the entirety of Domino.” “It likely is. Are you a thief as well? Because Kote always stole my screwdrivers and never explained why.” He says, crossing his arms after folding a blanket. 

Echo snorted. “No, the squad thief was Hevy, and even then he wasn’t very good at it.” He suddenly had a realization that he didn’t know who that was. “Who’s Kote?” “I believe you would know him as Grand Marshal Commander Cody. I still don’t know why he changed his name, but who knows with regs.” Tech continues talking as Wrecker hands Crosshair a few credits. “Me, him, Commander Rex for all of a day, plus he was calling himself Brutus then, Commander Wolffe, Captain Caesar, Commander Princeps, Captain Dominus, and the twins who became the Captains of the infamous of the 936th Swarm Corp, Solis and Luna, were all briefly in a command class together.” 

Echo blinked, then slowly shook his head. “I’m not going to ask how or why.” “Of course.” Tech says, then begins studying the weave on the blanket he folded and is now unfolding. “There are tori embroidered onto the blanket’s edges.” 

Wrecker looks up. “What’s a tori?” Tech holds up the blanket, pointing at the geometric shapes. “These are tori. The individual form is torus. A torus is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three-dimensional space about an axis that is coplanar with the circle- '' Tech is cut off as Crosshair launches a rolled up pair of blacks and nails him, knocking his goggles off. 

Crosshair gets up and grabs them back. “You were getting on my nerves.” Echo glares at Crosshair and gets up in his face. “Can you not?” Wrecker helps Tech look for his goggles in the background, while Hunter gets on high alert. “Why not? We were all getting irritated.” “No, we actually weren’t, sheb’se, I was interested in his ramble before  _ you  _ threw something at his face.” Echo jabbed a finger into Crosshair’s chest. 

Crosshair jabbed him back. “You’re the only one taking issue with this, reg.” Echo’s blood started boiling and he clenched his teeth. “Maybe because you’re only teaching him to shut up about things he’s interested in.” “He never shuts up, don’t worry about it,  _ reg _ .” Crosshair’s use of the word only becomes more emphasized with every time it’s said. 

Tech stands up, adjusting his goggles, and puts a hand on Echo’s shoulder. “It’s really not a problem.” He says calmly.”They all know if I get started on a topic it’ll be hours later before I’m halfway through my explanation, hoarse with a swollen tongue, and everyone honestly wishes they could turn off the bits of my brain that want to explain absolute zero’s importance in hyperspace mechanics, the use of circumvallation on Wir-47’s moon, the importance of polishing your decee regularly” He pauses to allow the snickers to subside, muttering something about him being both the youngest and the most mature along with something about him meaning the literal blasters “or kinematic schematics for wild space anomalous systems.” 

Echo still shot a look at Crosshair. “He still shouldn’t throw osik at you.” “It was a rolled up pair of blacks. He’s armed to the teeth, if he wanted to throw a dagger he would’ve. The worst thing that happened was my goggles dropped to the ground, and I made them to be blast proof, so a fall hasn’t harmed them a bit.” Echo sighs, and nods, backing off. 

Crosshair snorts, and brushes past him to leave the house. “Where are you going?” Hunter asks, still on edge because of the encounter with the entities the night before. “For a walk.” Crosshair says around the small stake in his mouth, holding up his 773 Firepuncher sniper rifle and waving it around for a second. “I’ll be fine.” Hunter nods and puts his feet up on the table, tying the headband he wore around his head. “Just don’t shoot any natives, sentient or otherwise, unless-” “They shoot at me first.” Crosshair finishes with an eye roll and a wave of the hand. He prowled out the door, walking slowly, deliberately, and as noiselessly as possible. 

Áidná came down the path at the same time he left, and he swerved to avoid her, giving a wide circle and not giving a response when she raised her hand in greeting. She raised an eyebrow and shook her head, returning to the task at hand. She huffed when she saw Hunter with his feet propped on the table and swatted at his legs until he took them off. 

“Honestly, when my sons were your age they wouldn’t dare be so mannerless. Did your parents never teach you better?” She says, laying out plates after putting a cloth on the table, scoffing at the dirt Hunter had gotten on it. “We don’t ‘ave and never did ‘ave parents, ma’am.” Wrecker says, poking into the basket of food she had, quickly pulling his hand away and putting it behind his back when she shot a glare to rival any medic’s at him. 

“You must have, or else you wouldn’t be here.” She states, pulling out forks. “We would, actually. We’re genetic clones of a bounty hunter named Jango Fett.” Tech replies, looking up. “We were placed in artificial wombs after the genetic code of this bounty hunter was written into a lab created egg. We were subsequently grown and given exposure throughout it all to growth acceleration hormones, doubling our biological aging.” He sniffs at the air before lowering his head back to his datapad. “It was a very effective technique when the Republic needed a vast and disposable army quickly.” 

She put her hands on her hips. “A vast, disposable army? Made up of cloned children?” “Ma’am, with all due respect, we are not children.” Echo says, waving his prosthetic in the air as he attempts to fix it. “If you say so, although I believe I must hold to my statements.” “Hold to them all you want.” Echo says, slightly defensive around the nat born female. 

She looks around the group. “Why do you all look so unique if you’re genetic clones?” Hunter answers. “As the sergeant of this squad, the answer is simple: excluding Corporal Echo, we’re genetic mutations. Specifically, we’re genetic mutations with desirable qualities in soldiers. These mutations just happened to morph our appearances.” “Qualities such as?” She questions, finishing setting the table and beginning to put out food. “I have enhanced senses. I can track scents, sounds, and sights as well as any anooba, along with a heightened sense for electrical fields.” He says, running his fingers over his knife. 

Wrecker punches one fist into an open palm. “I could uproot one of ‘em trees out there like it was a knife in butter.” Tech spoke up. “He is immensely strong and filled with stamina. Our currently ‘out on a walk’” He does the intergalactically recognized, sarcasm implying, air quotations “member is Crosshair. His extraordinary sight and accuracy with weaponry granted him his place in our Clone Force, rather than a decommissioning chamber.” He sighs, and sits beside Echo, pointing to the slightly crossed wires, but praising the rest of his repair job with a firm nod and smile “ And I have an exceedingly large mental capacity and intelligence score compared to the average reg.” 

While the others became more at unease around her and her prying nature, Tech was willing to indulge her because of his own talkative and fact laden one. Echo, on the other hand, was three point two seconds from bolting when the gaze of their host was leveled at them. He opened and closed his mouth several times before managing to get out “I was an ARC, Advanced Recon Commando, along with my brother and only surviving batcher, Fives. On a mission to rescue a Jedi Master from a prison, I desperately tried to bolt for a shuttle, thinking it was our only way out. I was blown to pieces” He gestures to his arm and the legs “and presumed dead by the rest of the individuals on the mission. I was actually alive, if on the brink of death.” His hands shook slightly.

“Once recovered, I was tortured for information, and when I refused to give anything up, they brainwashed me then I was hooked to a stasis chamber and then my brain was used as a weapon against the Republic, foiling all the moves they made: most of them me and my Captain at the time, Captain Rex of the 501st Torrent Company had thought up together.” He gestured at the group around him as she sat down, listening intently. 

“The Bad Batch, Clone Force 99, the fine men both sitting here and ‘out on a walk’ were sent, along with Captain Rex, Marshal Commander Cody, ARC Lieutenant Jesse and the CMO of the 501st, Sergeant Major Kix to find this secret weapon. As it turned out, that weapon was me.” He sighed, and pulled out a few pictures in the grey box, showing them to her after moving closer. 

Ones of Jesse Rex had given him on the day he became an ARC, slides of the ceremony and him laughing and drinking with Torrent in celebration, and recordings of him. Photos of Kix standing in front of a wall in the medbay, name after name, date after date, time after time, etched into it, the names, dates and times of death of brothers he couldn’t save, along with him tiredly smiling, training new medics, and giving his legendary glare to multiple vode, and even Skywalker and Kenobi, and him fist bumping Ahsoka for being a good patient. 

He got carried away as he listened to her chuckles and a few gasps of shock when she realized things like the wall of remembrance in the medbay was floor to ceiling the names of the dead. Pictures of Fives and him messing around, recordings of pranks, Fives cuddled with Tup, and the first night the 501st said Fives’ remembrance. He pointed out a photo of him and Echo hugging Rex with grins, and an easy, proud smile on Rex’s face. “That’s me.” Her eyes looked between the photo of him and him now, nodding softly. 

He cleared his throat. “That was the day we came back from being made ARCs. Rex, our ori’vod, was stupidly proud of us. And himself, since he helped train us. I remember Fives always using the wrong form for a certain kick, and being knocked flat on his back over and over.” Echo smiles sadly, touching the screen. “I did it right the first time, but Rex still flipped me right over his back.” 

She got a slight bit closer. “Ori’vod?” She asked, looking up at him, the smile lines around her mouth quirking a little. “Mando’a, ma’am, the language our template Jango Fett spoke. It means multiple things, but the one most applicable in this circumstance is older brother.” “So he was your brother and commanding officer?” “All of us clones are vode, siblings, ma’am.” 

Crosshair cleared his throat from the door. Echo snorts and shakes his head. “ _ Most  _ of us consider each other brothers, seem of us just are elitist sheb’se with sticks up their shebs.” “You regs, so quick to consider each other close.” He growls, pulling out another stake and gnawing on it. “You consider each other and me close, and Te’ika is close to Cody in some way, so is Hunter.” He retorts, before shaking his head. “You’re as bad as the Nulls.” “At least I don’t call some Mando trainer Buir.” Crosshair says flatly, before retreating to the corner he's claimed as his. 

Echo shook his head. “Don’t him ma’am, that’s just how he is.” Tech shot up. “It’s a defensive mechanism, he shuts others out with insults and sarcasm because of prolonged exposure to-” Crosshair threw a dagger that got stuck in a loose piece of Tech’s armor. “Next one goes through your eye, Tech, if you don’t shut your trap.” “I believe this is the third time you’ve ruined my armor. I really don’t appreciate it.” He starts taking off the pieces that were damaged. “Sarge, can I have the vibroblade? It’s my turn with it since it got stuck to me.” 

Hunter sighed, rubbing a hand down his face then cracking his neck. “Crosshair, don’t throw anymore knives at Tech or I’m permanently confiscating all of them and revoking your blade privileges. Tech, yes, you can have it, here’s a sheath.” He threw one at him. Áidná crossed her arms and appeared to be deep in thought, then began packing up the food and dishes. 

Hunter raised an eyebrow. She looked him in the eye. “You’re not staying out here. Come, my home is big enough for us all.” The squad all shot glances at each other. Tech shook his head when they looked to him for answers. After she was done packing and standing in the doorway tapping her foot, the squad threw together their things then stood in loose formation behind her, then followed as she led them into the center of the woods. 

When they came to the open area, it wasn’t exactly what they had expected to see. A large, low to the ground home, painted with bright colors and made of dark wood peered out from behind a small garden. A flock of birds came to greet the woman, who laughed and threw them some seeds from a pouch. She led them to the door once the birds were distracted, and looked them up and down. “Do you have any clothing besides your armor and the bodysuits?” 

Tech shakes his head. “Unnecessary for GAR troopers to have unless on infiltration and similar stealth operations.” “Yeah, an’ stealth ain’t never been our strong suit.” Wrecker says, ducking a little to fit under the doorframe. 

Crosshair rolls his eyes and jabs the rifle into Wrecker’s chest. “It’s never been  _ your _ strong suit. The rest of us could manage it easily.” Wrecker bats it away and the two begin somewhat playfully circling each other, Crosshair getting in a left hook and a jab before Áidná stomped her foot down loudly. 

“There will be no fighting of any sort in my home.” She intoned calmly but firmly, holding the basket close. “If you wish to fight, you may do so outside, and after you eat.” “Yes ma’am.” Wrecker said, somewhat meekly, whereas Crosshair only rolled his eyes as a response. She nodded, then set out the food at the table. “Give me a moment and I’ll get some more comfortable clothing for you.” 

Echo shuffles his feet awkwardly. “Ma’am-” “Áidná.” She says with a smile, and Echo switches to that automatically after years and years of training to respond to whoever seems to be in charge by whatever they instruct. “Áidná, the armor is more than comfortable, it’s like a second skin.” She sighs. “Well, it’s dirty and clunky. I’ll get you things, please, it’ll be my honor.” “We can clean it-” Tech tries to say, but he’s cut off by her raised hand asking for silence. 

“I’m certain you can, but indulge an old woman, would you? Or is there something you all are hiding? I can get clothing that covers from head to toe, or whatever you need it to.” She is already halfway down a hall leading into several rooms. The group looks at each other, then makes various gestures and expressions to signal their feelings, Echo making a set of gestures that Tech replies to with a few sequences of his own, while Áidná just watched confused as she came back with an armful of clothes. 

Echo flinched a little as his legs -or the phantom pains from what used to be them- throbbed, and made a gesture that signalled, with the context, “just accept the haar’chak clothes.” Hunter nuzzled Echo’s forehead softly, nodding, knowing that the change in expression is a sign of his phantom pains rearing their head. 

Áidná came over. “Are you finished with your private conversation?” Crosshair pulled off a glove with his teeth. “It wasn’t private if you understand military codes.” “Well,I don’t, Crosshair.” She says sternly. “Civvie natborns rarely do. Not smart enough, usually.” “And you are the most intelligent?” She crosses her arms. 

Tech, who’s scrounging in the pile of soft brightly colored clothing, looks up. “No, he’s not. That would be me. Echo is the next in technical and logical intelligence points, then Hunter, then him. Of course, none of them even compete with my scores, which are, for troopers and most nats, off the charts, as some would say.” Áidná nods. “Thank you for proving my point.” Tech blinks, unused to being thanked, much less unsarcastically, and even less so for the same thing he’s normally told to be quiet with. “Erm....you’re welcome?” He replies cautiously. She smiles at him reassuringly, as if to say _ ‘yes, that’s right, good job.’  _

Once they have things that’ll fit gathered, they stand around, uncertain. Normally, they’d just get undressed and put everything they’d been given on in the same room except for Tech, but with the added nat female, they’re uncertain, and Tech is chewing his nails to the quick as his anxiety around females in such settings flares. Áidná seems to realize this, and goes into a different room to allow them some space. 

They all follow the order of the trained ritual exactly. Gloves, chestplate, pauldrons, rerebraces, couters, vambraces, plackart, gauntlets, belts, cuisses, poleyns, greaves, boots. The plastoid clatters to the floor then is stacked neatly, helmets placed on top of the piles. Tech goes to a corner to strip off the blacks, Echo catching a glimpse of bare, tanned, clear skin before respectfully looking away. 

Hunter’s body was scarred from claw marks up and down it, and the tattoos that outlined the skeletal pattern of the body matched the one on his face. Wrecker had extensive burn scarring on the left side of his body, with a small scar from a gash over the right ribs. Crosshair had thin lines reminiscent of the ones on his face all down his legs and his sides, tattoos of weapons and more ornamenting his arms and back. Echo’s thin frame had had as many of the unnecessary attachments removed as possible, but the scarring from their presence remains, his hair finally growing back on his head.

Tech finished dressing first, pulling at the sleeves of the deep green embroidered top with soft leather leggings, but he pulls his boots back on, wanting some of the familiar, comforting weight of the armor on him without offending their host. He watches silently, pulling out the datapad then perching on one of the counters to record the call of the birds that were kept on the land here. 

Echo’s clothing hangs off him slightly, but the surprisingly similar color to 501st blue comforts him. Like Tech, he pulls on the boots for that weight, grounding his mind just as much as his body, before sitting in a chair sideways. Hunter, Crosshair and Wrecker do the same, the red and black clothing allowing room for air to get into the loose folds, causing a shiver to go up Hunter’s highly sensitive back. 

Áidná comes back, seeming to sense them finishing, and sighs with a chuckle at the odd places and positions they’ve arranged themselves in. Crosshair isn’t visible for a moment as she locates him with her eyes laying under a couch, Wrecker is sitting cross legged on the floor near him, and Hunter sits on top of a food preserver. 

She clears her throat, then goes down the list. “Tech, counters are not for seating. Neither are food preservers, Hunter. Crosshair, the idea is to sit  _ on _ the couch, but if you enjoy the dust from years of not cleaning under there, I suppose I can’t judge. Wrecker, Echo, I have nothing to say to you on this.” Tech slowly gets off the counter, cautiously settling in a seat next to Echo at the table, looking at her as if to ask if this was fine. She smiled softly and nodded. She hid her groan as he laid with his back on the seat and legs hooked over the back while he looked at his datapad upside down.

Crosshair gave a rude gesture out from under the edge of the couch just as he started wheezing and then coughing, crawling out soon after the fit started, then hops onto a chair across from Echo, looking at him and Tech like they were maniacs, sitting normally. Wrecker settles on one next to Crosshair, hungrily eying the food, as Hunter sits normally in the chair he lands in on the opposite end of the table, pulling at the sleeves of the tunic. 

Crosshair points at Echo and Tech. “Gonna do something about them, nat?” He asks, tone flat but a small smirk pulling at the corners of his lips. She sighs. “Tech, Echo, please sit up straight.” Echo snorts to himself, but does so, shaking Tech to get him to do the same. “Hmm?” “Áidná needs us to sit up straight.” “Impossible.” He replies absently, but flips to be the right side up again anyway. 

Áidná sighs with a smile. “Thank you, boys. Now, who’s hungry?” A chorus of affirmatives breaks out from them. She nods at the food. “Serve yourselves, and eat, eat until you’re full.” They didn’t need to be told twice as they grabbed at food, passing it around once they figured out an order to do it in. She watched as there was a brief squabble over what a dessert was, quickly stopped by a small snarl from Hunter. 

Echo watched her out of the corner of his eye, still not entirely convinced of her trustworthiness, moving himself closer to Tech. Tech lowered a hand for him to take in his hand, the two eating quickly, mouth watering as they chewed the foods that actually had taste, unlike the ration cubs and sticks they were used to. Meat dripped with fat and juices, and berries burst into mouths, all of them beginning to wonder if they’d died and gone to some ideal afterlife. 

Even Crosshair didn’t have a single complaint or snarky comment as he licked his lips and started to lick the plate, all of them trained not to waste a crumb of food. She watched, eyebrows raised as she observed their behavior, concerned and curious about what got them to the point of acting like starving feral canids, literally as Hunter growls protectively over his food. 

Finally they finish the food, leaving very few scraps, then sitting up in their seats, waiting for some sort of permission to go. Áidná, once she realizes what they are waiting for, gets up and leads them down the hallway. They follow after her, Crosshair muttering about how this place was extremely indefensible. Echo stared over at him. “Cut the attitude for five minutes, would you?” “I don’t have an attitude, I just have a personality you can’t handle, reg.” He said, chewing on the wooden stake in his mouth. 

Tech halts, and so do the others as Áidná stops and points at the doors to the rooms. “You may decide who sleeps where. Good night, and sleep well.” She turns around and vanishes up into a staircase. 

A few moments later, the squad was poking at the large bed, before all of them curled up in one, using Wrecker as pillow, and falling deep asleep with their brothers all watching each other. 


End file.
